No regeneration - turbine problem?

I installed a Kenmore softener about 2 weeks ago. I have noticed that it hasn't regenerated since I manually regenerated it after installation. I put it into diagnostic mode to see if it is measuring water flow, and it does show that it is sensing flow, but compared to my previous Kenmore softeners, it does not seem to be measuring water flow accurately. The digits don't run up very fast even with a faucet fully open, but instead they go up about every 2 seconds or so.

I took the turbine out and it spins on its axle just fine.

Any ideas? Seems to me it is acting like it is binding up when actually installed (the turbine, that is) because it spins just fine when out of the housing.

You might try only putting it back in just enough and then putting the bypass back in place and see if that helps.
It is possible that the turbine is getting pushed to far into the housing and thus not able to spin as free as it should.
Water passing through it should push it more to the bypass fitting.

I pulled the unit again today and again the turbine spins just fine on its axle when it's out of the softener. When I put it back into the softener, I left it out just a little and then pushed the bypass tubes into the softener, then pulled it apart again - it caused the turbine and housing to seat fully in the same place where it was before.

The magnets are flush, too.

I'm stumped. I wonder if the electronics are bad? That doesn't seem to be a likely failure mode (that it would read some pulses but not all pulses) but who knows?

One thing to check, it is a little tricky because you are trying to hold the turbine while holding the sensor end over the turbine and blow... if the turbine spins and the flow shows up on the display then I would say that the turbine blades are not right from the factory, they are a bit long and hitting the housing that they should be clearing.
Now if the spinning does not show up on the display, it could be the sensor is bad and not getting the full signal.

One thing to check, it is a little tricky because you are trying to hold the turbine while holding the sensor end over the turbine and blow... if the turbine spins and the flow shows up on the display then I would say that the turbine blades are not right from the factory, they are a bit long and hitting the housing that they should be clearing.
Now if the spinning does not show up on the display, it could be the sensor is bad and not getting the full signal.